Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow jokes with New England QB Tom Brady after their game Sunday.

No wonder NBC fought so hard to try to air Sunday’s game between the Broncos and Patriots.

According to KCNC-4 (CBS in Denver) news director Tim Wieland, Sunday’s game locally pulled a 40.6 rating and a 74 share — astronomical ratings for a regular-season game (the Super Bowl received a 78 share in Denver in February).

Also consider that at this point last season, the Broncos local share of television viewers had dipped to the low 40s.

According to The Sports Business Journal, the Broncos and Patriots were also a huge draw nationally, with CBS receiving a 19.5 overnight rating, which marks the network’s highest national rating of the season, as well as the largest regular-season rating in four years.

The game got the second-best TV rating for a regular-season NFL game on CBS since the network started broadcasting AFC games in 1998. The Patriots vs. Colts game on Nov. 4, 2007 (between two undefeated teams) is the only other game with a higher rating on CBS, with a 22.5 rating.

(The Associated Press explains: “Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program. Shares represent the percentage of all homes with TVs in use at the time. Overnight ratings measure the country’s largest markets.”)